Diversity; Good or Bad?

[ForgeWrite]

I run a script and screenplay blog. It deals mostly with the structure, form and style of writing for film.

I just recently added a cartoon and a movie review to my blog.

I thought it might be cool to have some diversity in the content. I was thinking my readers could check out a weekly cartoon and a weekly movie review.

The cartoon and the reviews are originals not links to other sites.

Do you think this takes away from the blog itself or do readers like a little diversity?

Do they want to cut to the chase or are most readers interested in a wide range of stuff on blogs they like?

[EverythingEverywhere]

Why not news about Arena football, model train collecting and resources for people suffering from Marfans Syndrome?

Focus.

There are sites out there which do all those things better than you. Be the best at one thing. If you want to do those other things, I'd just start a new website.

[liquidkiddie]

Agree with EE. If you have a focus, then your blog will become successful. If you have posts on say - 10 or 15 subjects - unless it's a personal blog, it will struggle be successful (though personal blogs aren't successful generally).

[WritingAndRaving]

In my experience focus is key as far as your content is concerned but don't ignore the power of 'overlapping niches'. I believe that some commenting or link exchanges with blogs in niches that overlap yours work better than those with blogs in the same niche as yours. If a visitor goes to a blog in the same niche as yours then they will only click your link if they can't find what they need at the other blog. This means that this blog is not that good and if so then it won't be providing you with much traffic. If the niche overlaps yours then the visitor may get the information they need on another blog and still visit yours because they are interested. Overlapping niches to yours would be blogs by writers writing for theatre or poets for example. Or even actors' blogs.

Sorry about the out of place, unasked for rant about links, it just came out!

[ForgeWrite]

Ok, I see what you are saying.

I guess the idea with the film reviews was to relate it to screenplays and script writing.
The cartoon is loosely associated with those topics as well. I am not as sold on the cartoon but it was fun to make.

However, I do think that the film discussion can be about character, plot, and structure...

And this is what my blog deals with most.

I have had some interesting emails from the film discussion/ review. So, I think I'm gonna keep that. I'll scrap the cartoon.

Thanks for the help. I love the feed back.

[QuirkyJessi]

I really don't see anything wrong with doing a weekly film review. It relates to your content, adds a tiny bit of variety, and keeps things interesting.

[ForgeWrite]

Well,

That is nice to hear. I guess the real question then is, can I keep thinking of good reviews?

It's tough because I see a lot of bad (I mean really bad) films/movies. So most of my reviews might just be rants. Maybe I'll try to change that.

I will start by seeing the new Batman movie. How can that be bad?

Thanks for the comments

N

[ForgeWrite]

A good point

I really need to go through my posts and reorganize my categories.

I have pages (I use wordpress), but that does not really cover the whole spectrum.

Thanks again,
N

[Sapphire]

Yes, you know people are creatures of habit. They like knowing what's coming. If you have some standard occasional film reviews (not necessarily every week) in addition to your strong screenwriting topics, I say why not. But don't lose focus on your main topic.

I visit karencheng.com.au alot because I like her writings AND ALSO, her occasional raves on jewellery. So I can't help but think since you're writing on the subject, a review on someone's work would be something *I* as a reader of your screenwriting blog would appreciate - your opinion

Also I've been having trouble about focus on my blog too. It was just supposed to be my personal blog, but it turned sorta foodblog and now I don't know if I should go all in or something rather! Decisions decisions...

[ForgeWrite]

@Sapphire

Ok cool.

Thanks for the input, I really do appreciate it.

I think I might keep the movie review going (weekly).

As for cartoons I might delete that post and maintain the focus. It sounds like people want a tight style and not semi-random content.

Thanks again